The Point Of No Return
by Doug4422
Summary: [FINISHED]Kim is injured while on a hiking trip with Ron, with no help coming, it's up to Ron to get them back to civilization, can they make it?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I **_DO NOT _**own the rights to Kim Possible, or any of the characters contained herein, they are the property of Disney entertainment, the storyline is mine, I make no profit from this.

**Rating: PG** for mild language, and some slight gore.

_A/N: This story takes place during the winter, when Kim and Ron go out, the weather is perfect, by the time they try to get back home, they're in the middle of a blizzard._

**The Point of No Return**

Starring

**Kim Possible**

_**Kim badly breaks her leg while on a hiking trip in the mountains with Ron, with no help coming, it's up to Ron to get them back to civilization, before Kim reaches the point of no return, will they make it?**_

**Prologue**

Kim was packed, and ready for a week long hiking trip in the mountains with Ron, the first true date between them.

They had only begun dating a week ago, and everything seemed perfect between them. The friendship they had groomed for years, had bloomed into full-blown love, and Kim could never have been happier than when she was with Ron, even when it was a mission.

But today, this was different, Ron had planned this for the last three days, a hiking trip up Mt. Middleton. He had been wanting to conquer the peak of the mountain's summit for years, this time, he was bringing Kim along for the ride,

'_I wonder if he'll give up this year?'_ Kim thought, as she loaded her pack onto her back, and grabbed her snowsuit, the forecast had called for cold temperatures near the peak of the mountain tonight, and she didn't want to be caught in it unprepared.

_Meanwhile, at Ron's house:_

Ron Stoppable had his bag packed, and ready, inside, was everything he would need for a hiking trip up Mt. Middleton, including, the very thing that had stopped him last year from getting to the summit, a first aid kit,

'_I wound up with frostbite last year, and had to stop my ascent up the mountain early, it won't happen this year._' he thought viciously. He had hiked past the midway point, only to wind up with severe frostbite on both hands, '_Talk about embarrassment,_'he thought, '_Kim wouldn't let me live that down for weeks._'

But this time, it was different, Kim was going with him, this was to be their first official date, and Ron didn't want to disappoint her, not like he had done to himself for the last seven years, '_Not this time, I'm not going to let anything stop me, I just hope Kim's ready for the experience of her life._' He thought, he had no idea just how much of an experience it would be, for both of them.


	2. Day One

**Day One**

Kim and Ron bid the taxi driver goodbye, and began to ready themselves for the climb up the snowy slopes of Mt. Middleton, they were near a sheer cliff, large patches of ice hung down to the bottom of the mountain,

"And how are we going to get up that, Ron?" Kim asked, looking over at her boyfriend, who was rummaging around in his pack. When he stood up, he had in his hand, a set of ice spikes, and two ice axes,

"We climb, of course." Ron said, as though this were the only logical conclusion,

"Of course, silly me." Kim said, with a bite of sarcasm in her voice,

"This is the exact same spot I went up last year, K.P.," Ron said, now sitting down, and fixing the ice spikes on his shoes, "trust me, please."

Ron had reached into his bag after he had got ready for the climb, and pulled out a one hundred-foot length of climbing rope,

"Don't want to leave you down here, do I?" he said, throwing the rope over his shoulder, as he took a few steps back from the face of the mountain, an ice ax in each hand, he then took a running leap at the face of the cliff, and dug the matching hardware deep into the glacier, he worked his slow way up the side of the cliff, when he reached the top, he threw the rope down the side, attached to the end of the rope, were the ice spikes, and a note:

'_Attach these to your shoes. They'll give you more leverage on the ice._'

Kim did as instructed, as she had never climbed the side of a glacier before, and Ron had, she sat down on the cold surface of the road, and attached the spikes onto her shoes, she then walked up to the face of the cliff, and dug her right foot into the ice, with a crunching, the spikes lodged into the ice, and gave her the necessary leverage to climb the side of the cliff,

'_I just hope the rest of the climb isn't as unpleasant as this._' Kim thought to herself as she reached the top of the cliff, and looked down, she had covered a hundred feet of the mountain in less that a couple of minutes,

"That was awesome," Kim said, looking over at Ron, "Are we going to do that again?"

"Not for a while yet," Ron said, now gathering some firewood, and placing it into a bag, "We're only about eleven hundred feet below base camp one now, and I need some firewood, the forecast calls for it to be a little bit chilly tonight, and I don't want either of us to catch cold."

"How long will it take for us to get to base camp?" Kim asked.

"We should be there by early evening, right about time for supper." Ron said,

"No lunch?" Kim asked,

"Of course there'll be lunch, silly," Ron said, "we'll not be at base camp at that time, we'll be near a small shelf about a five hundred feet below it."

Kim and Ron had come to a small clearing about twenty feet from the edge of the cliff, Kim was looking around, it had been a long time since she had seen something this breathtaking, without running after Drakken, or some other villain with dreams of taking over the world,

"This is absolutely beautiful, Ron." Kim said, an awestruck look on her face,

"Yeah, I know. This is where I made camp that first night last year." Ron said, remembering how he had started late that year, and then never made it to base camp, coming down two days later with frostbite.

Kim and Ron had made it to a small shelf near the six hundred foot mark, and ate a small lunch, some sandwiches that Ron had brought with him, and began the climb to base camp, by the time they had arrived at camp, the wind was whipping badly, and snow was starting to fall,

"I don't like this, Ron." Kim said, looking around, the clouds were steel grey in color, and looked menacing,

"Yeah," Ron replied, looking around himself, "this weather just comes up outta nowhere, and bites you in the ass, doesn't it."

"You gonna pitch the tent, or do I have to do it?" Kim asked,

"Hang on." Ron said, grabbing the tent from the bottom straps of his backpack, and setting it up, he then walked over to another, a larger tent near the edge of the ledge the camp had been erected on, Kim could hear him talking on a radio, and figured that the tent was the comm center,

"Base camp one, to mother station, come in, please?" Ron said, a crackling voice replied from the other side of the radio in the tent,

"Go ahead, base camp one." it said, Kim could only assume that it was the local park ranger,

"Do you have the weather report for tonight?" Ron asked,

"Yeah, high winds, light snow, and very cold temperatures at the thousand feet mark, and above, best bet is to get inside of a tent, and stay there for the night." the voice said,

"Roger that." Ron said, then he came out of the tent, and looked over at Kim,

"I suppose you heard that?" he asked, Kim nodded her head,

"We're bunking in for the night," Ron replied, "Park Ranger says it's supposed to get colder than a well digger's ass in Alaska, we're staying put."

"What about the sleeping arrangements?" Kim asked,

"Well," Ron said, his face contorted in thought, "it'd be better if we were both in the same tent, we can stay warmer that way."

Kim agreed, and walked into Ron's tent, it was rather larger than the one she had brought with her, but then again, Ron was the mountain climber of the bunch, he knew what it took to make it up the side of a mountain, only a few years ago, he had done what only Kim, and a few others had done, climbed to the peak of Mt. Everest, Ron had gone up the side of the mountain in less time than Kim had, and was still in better shape when he came back down the mountain, skiing down most of it, Kim couldn't help but think about the man that Ron was growing up into, he was still a little bit reckless at times, but that's what made Ron unique, he could almost tell what Kim was going to say, before she even got the words out of her mouth.

As night fell on Mt. Middleton, Kim and Ron were sitting in the tent, playing a game of chess, Kim was thoroughly beating him at this point, having put Ron in check about five times, before moving in for the kill,

"Checkmate." Kim said, sliding her bishop into a spot in front of Ron's King, thereby trapping it, he couldn't take the Bishop, because doing so, would put his King in conflict with Kim's Queen, and he couldn't move in either direction, because it would put his King in check with Kim's Bishop,

"I concede defeat." Ron said, pushing his King over with his forefinger, thereby, ending the game,

"Time to get some sleep," Kim said, looking at Ron, "we got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

_A/N: And that's the end of the first chapter, I have decided to call the chapters "Days," in this fic, because each chapter counts the number of days that Kim and Ron will be on the mountain, stick around, boys, and girls, it's going to get more, and more interesting from here on in._


	3. Day Two

**Day Two**

Kim woke up early, from the sounds outside, the wind had died out during the night, when she got out of the sleeping bag she shared with Ron the night before, she noticed that he was gone,

'_Where did he get off to?_' She thought, when she stood up, she realized that she was wearing nothing but her underclothes, she scrambled around the tent, picking up her clothes, and getting dressed in a hurry, she then grabbed her snowsuit, and got into it, zipping it up, just as Ron walked into the tent,

"Good morning, sleepyhead." He said, a sly grin plastered to his face,

"What happened last night?" Kim asked, gesturing to her clothes, which she was now wearing,

"You got too hot last night, and stripped off a few layers of clothes, don't ask me why, I was freezing." Ron replied, his face still hitched in that sly grin,

"There's more to it, Ron, spill." Kim said, her eyes narrowing, the two had agreed on no sex until they felt they were ready, which wouldn't be in the near future,

"It's not what you think, K.P., so get your mind out of the gutter." Ron said,

"What's with the goofy grin?" Kim asked,

"The storm blew itself out last night. It's a bon diggity day for mountain climbing." Ron said, throwing the tent flap wide, the sight that greeted Kim was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. A light layer of snow covered everything, making it look like a scene out of a Christmas card, the valley that Middleton lay in looked so peaceful, it was almost amazing that they were twelve hundred feet up the side of a mountain, and ready to climb up some more,

"Well, what are we standing around here for, then," Kim said, looking at Ron, "let's get up the mountain."

Mid afternoon found Kim and Ron about halfway up the side of the mountain from the first base camp, and according to Ron, they were still about a day away from camp two, which was located near Dead Man's Gorge. A large, wide crevasse, located at about the two thousand foot mark. It was the one thing that stopped several climbers from making it to that height. Ron had been the only person in thirty years to successfully jump the gorge, and make it to camp two, and today, if she watched Ron closely, Kim would join him in that elite group.

"Be careful, K.P.," Ron warned, as they reached a glacier near a shelf. They would need to go over it to reach the spot where Ron had to turn back last year, "this glacier is the reason I came down the mountain early last year. According to Paulie, the head Ranger, the temperature of the ice is about 50 below, automatic frostbite, especially if you're not wearing insulated gloves."

"So not the drama, Ron." Kim said, in her usual manner.

"Really," Ron replied, "need I remind you, Kim, I was about ten minutes from losing my fingers last year."

"Yeah, but you had forgotten your gloves last year, along with a first aid kit." Kim said,

"Not this time." Ron said, his hands enclosed in heavy insulated gloves, attached to his pack, was a box, it was marked in large red letters:

_**First Aid Kit**_

"This year, I came prepared." he said, his face splitting into a wide grin

"Good for you." Kim said, her voice low, so that Ron couldn't hear her, she knew that Ron had brought the kit, and even if he didn't, she had brought her own.

Ron had used the same procedure to climb up the second glacier he had used to climb the first one, he went up first, then threw down the rope, and ice spikes to Kim, who climbed up, using the rope, and spikes for leverage,

"Cool, let's do it again." Kim said, her voice becoming more, and more excited,

"You're getting the hang of this, K.P." Ron replied, smiling back at Kim. He had set up a ring of stones in the center of a clearing, and in a small pile, near the edge of what was to be a fire pit, were several fish, most of them had already been cleaned, and dressed,

"Where'd you get those?" Kim asked,

"Hidden stash of food I put away about a couple of months ago, I stuck it in that ice pack over there." Ron said, pointing to a small patch of ice, which had a small hole gouged out of it,

"Ingenious, Ron." Kim said, who had to admit, Ron had thought ahead this year, she wondered if he had other stashes like this, scattered all over the mountain, and how he had done it,

"Yeah, I had Wade call in a favor I owed from the Oh Boyz. They loaned me a helicopter, and I went up the mountain, planting food stashes, just like this one. There's another near the place we're gonna be setting up camp for the night." Ron said, Kim remembered how it was Ron, not her, that helped the Oh Boyz to escape the Seniors, and she knew that was one, of only a few favors that was owed to Ron,

"Well, I've got to admit, Ron, you planned ahead for this, didn't you?" Kim asked,

"You didn't think I'd let us starve, did you?" Ron replied, answering Kim's question with a question.

Night began to fall quickly, and they were still not near the campsite for the night,

"We must've taken a wrong turn somewhere." Kim said, looking back at Ron, who was looking at a compass,

"No, we're going the right way. It should be just over that rise there." Ron said, pointing to a rock wall, about fifty feet in front of them,

"I hope there's enough room." Kim said, looking up at the ledge,

"There is," Ron said, "there were about thirty hikers on the mountain last year, most of us camped here the second night."

Kim pulled out a climbing harness from her bag, then looked back at Ron,

"You coming, or what?" she asked,

"Gimme a second, K.P." Ron replied, now pulling out his own climbing harness, and preparing for the climb up the ledge, and onto the plateau above.

Kim and Ron agreed to sleep in separate tents tonight, but before doing so, he had cooked both of them a large dinner of smoked salmon, and some of the wild berries that grew around Mt. Middleton, if there was one thing to be said about Ron, he could survive in the wilderness without any outside help at all,

'_Now, if he doesn't snore too loud tonight, I'll be golden._' Kim thought, as she crawled into her tent, unfortunately, it wasn't as heavily insulated as Ron's tent, but it served its purpose.

As the moon rose onto the clearing, bathing everything in a bluish light, Kim fell asleep, lost in dreams about this time tomorrow, when they would be attacking Dead Man's Gorge, and hopefully, they would make to camp two, and be nearer to the summit, and Ron could finally stop attempting to conquer the mountain.

_A/N: Well, day two is in the books, and so far, the only thing that seems to worry Kim, is the fact they have to get across an unpassable crevasse, just keep your eyes open, it'll get better from here, I'm not going to give away what happens next, so you're just going to have to read, and find out._


	4. Day Three

**Day Three**

Kim woke up early the next morning. She wasn't alone. Apparently, Ron was awake as well. There were footprints leading out of camp. Kim followed the prints, and found Ron, looking out over a ledge opposite of where they had come up the day before,

"We've got to get across that?" Kim asked, looking up, she caught her first glimpse of Dead Man's Gorge, the huge crevasse that had claimed the lives of several of the areas best climbers, the chasm was wide, and huge, it seemed to go on forever,

"Yep, if we want to make it to base camp two tonight, we got to." Ron said, pointing to a large ledge overlooking the chasm, Kim could barely make out a small tent on top of the ledge,

"Just don't go killing yourself, Ron, you know, Middleton Park Cemetary is filled with the bodies of climbers that thought they could beat the gorge." Kim said,

"Yeah, I know." Ron said, referring to the fall down the gorge, that most of the climbers in the area had nicknamed, '_The Express Elevator to Hell_,' Ron himself had almost experienced that same ride four years ago, but midway down the fall, he had gotten his ice axes lodged into a glacier and was able to climb his way out of the gorge, thereby making it to the camp, but not without injury, he had dislocated his shoulder in the fall, and two other climbers in his party had died in the ensuing exodus over the side of the gorge, and that, more than anything, put a stop to going any further that year. And it was only two years ago, he had managed to successfully make the jump, crossing the gorge without a scratch, but the following morning, he had broken his leg, when his foot found an unmapped crevasse in the mountainside.

It was mid-afternoon when Kim and Ron reached the gorge, Kim watched, as Ron got out a large length of climbing rope, and pulled his ice axes out of his backpack, then, dropping his pack to the ground, he took a long run backwards, to give himself a head of steam when he made the jump. Apparently, he was going to hook the rope onto a tree on the other side, because he had lodged one end of the rope into the granite of the mountain, which would allow Kim the advantage of just going across by the rope, rather than risking the fall. Kim got out of the way just in time, Ron had begun his run, as he reached the edge of the gorge, he made a wild leap, Kim watched, horror struck, as Ron hung in midair, and then, began to fall, his arms flailing madly, but in a few seconds, it was over, Ron had made it across, but barely, Kim was stunned that he made it at all, but then she realized, the reason the other climbers didn't make it, they didn't drop their packs, and didn't have someone on the other side to bring it over for them.

It took nearly twenty minutes for Kim to get across the gorge, she didn't want to try any heroics, not at this height, but Ron's voice made her feel comfortable as she shimmied across the rope, when her feet touched solid ground again, she let out a sigh of relief,

"Thank God that's over with." Kim said,

"Oh, the fun's only started, K.P." Ron said, a slight grin on his face, Kim knew what he was saying, they would have to navigate the gorge during the decent, but something about his voice meant something entirely different,

"What do you mean?" she asked,

"Well, the weather, it's cold, and snowing out, that means there's bound to be hidden crevasses as we get higher." Ron said,

"Yeah," Kim replied, "not to mention, several covered holes dotted all over the mountain, if our feet come into contact with any of them, it's broken bone city."

"Got that right." Ron said, remembering his encounter with one of these covered holes a couple of years ago.

They had arrived at base camp two about five hours ahead of schedule, the first thing Ron did when they arrived, was to call the ranger's station, and ask for a weather report,

"Clear as a bell tonight, Ronnie," the ranger said, "so you're good to go to camp three."

"Roger that, Paulie." Ron replied, when he came out of the tent, he looked over at Kim, and motioned over to another large tent near the comm tent,

"Mess hall," he said, now leading Kim to the large tent, as soon as they went in, they found a small man inside, his blond hair was blindingly white, as though it were made of freshly fallen snow, his light blue eyes looked as though they were made from chips of sapphires, and his body was well built, if not a little pasty looking,

"Ack, Ron Stoppable, you made it, Paulie said you should be coming, so I had a meal prepared for you, and your party, how many?" the man asked, in a thick Scandavian accent,

"Just the two of us, Sven." Ron said, gesturing over at Kim, then, to himself,

"That is good, please, take a seat, your dinner vill be shortly." Sven said, now disappearing to the rear of the tent, Kim was looking at Ron, a question seemed to be forming in her head,

"How did they get a mess hall at two thousand feet up?" Ron asked, noticing Kim's puzzled look, Kim nodded, "They made it when they erected the camp." Ron said,

"What about Sven?" Kim asked,

"He's harmless, he's one of the search, and rescue workers that stays in a cabin located about a few hundred yards to the east of here, he's always the first to arrive at this camp, he cooks the meals, and keeps the camp in order, Joe works camp one, and Wayne works camp three." Ron said,

"How come we didn't see Joe at camp one?" Kim asked, but Ron didn't answer that question, instead, it was Sven,

"He vas sick, there vas no one vorking camp one." he said,

"Okay, sick with what?" Kim asked,

"Pneumonia." Sven replied,

"Wow, is he over it?" Ron asked,

"Ja, he is fine, now, my friend." Sven said, smiling, revealing dazzlingly bright teeth,

"That's good, tell him, Ron sends his best wishes." Ron said,

"Ja, that, I'll do." Sven said, still smiling.

Kim and Ron left camp two about two hours later, the sun was still up, and the temperature seemed to be holding for now, but in the north, little to Kim, and Ron's awareness, one of the worst blizzards to hit Middleton was starting, it had already buried Denver, and several other cities to the north, in more than two feet of snow, and stopped much of the air traffic in the area, passenger flights had been rerouted to other airports, and all flights in the areas had been grounded, and according to the forecast, if the storm maintained its current path, it would hit Middleton by tomorrow afternoon, unfortunately for Kim, and Ron, they had left the camp before Sven could give them the bad news.

Kim and Ron were going to make camp in a clearing about a quarter mile from camp two, there, they would dig in for the night,

"We're almost there, K.P." Ron said, but when he turned around, Kim was nowhere to be seen, he retraced his steps, and found a hole in the mountain, that he was sure wasn't there before, as he made the descent down the hole, he looked down, and saw Kim, lying at the bottom, she was holding onto her right leg, and shouting out in pain,

"Ron, get your ass down here!" she was yelling, Ron was suddenly nervous, Kim was injured, and this might stop his ascent up the mountain, '_Even if it did,_' he thought to himself, '_it's the furthest I've gotten in five years, I can't complain about that._'

As Ron made it to the bottom of the hole, he noticed that Kim's right leg was folded underneath her, and a red substance was staining the snow around her. As he slowly moved Kim's leg straight, he realized what the red substance was, it was Kim's blood, it had stained the leg of her snowsuit, and he was pretty sure that Kim's leg was broken, he just didn't know how badly, but he didn't want to find out here, something was telling him to get out of the hole before nightfall, so he laced Kim's left arm over his shoulder, and around the back of his neck, then, attaching Kim to his climbing harness, (Kim was wearing her harness as well) he climbed out of the hole, and found a small, flat area where he could set up camp, and assess the damage that had been done to Kim's leg.

"Easy, K.P., I got you." Ron said, laying Kim on the floor of the tent, he was removing her snowsuit, and preparing to remove Kim's broken leg from the leg of the suit, as soon as Kim's right leg was free, Ron looked down, what he saw made him sick, the bone had broken the surface of the skin, ('_No wonder there was so much blood on the ground._' Ron thought) and was showing itself clearly through the leg of Kim's pants, as Kim got up to look at the damage, Ron's hand came down swiftly on her shoulder,

"Lay back, Kim, you don't want to see this." he said, quickly covering the injury with a cloth, and pushing Kim into a laying position,

"So not the drama, Ron," Kim replied, "it's just a broken leg, how bad could it be?"

"How about an open wound." Ron said, not hiding it any longer, he knew that Kim would remove the cloth as soon as he was out of sight, so he took it off her leg, and showed it to her, resigning himself to the worst, if Kim were to see it, she would go into shock, and he would need to get them off the mountain within the hour, and if not, he would have three days before Gangrene set in,

"Holy shit!" Kim said, looking at her mangled right leg,

"I told you not to look." Ron said,

"That's not what's worrying me, Ron, do you know enough to sew it up, and get us off the mountain?" Kim asked,

"I hope." Ron said, there was a complete absence of confidence from his voice.

Ron had sewn up the wound as best as he could, and had set Kim's leg, when he had set the bone, Kim screamed, and shouted out a bunch of obscenities that he was sure, she didn't learn from anyone in her family, after that was done, he bound the leg in a splint, and fashioned a crutch for her to walk with, he had thought, if she were able to move under her own power, they would be able to make down the mountain faster, and get her to the hospital,

"I only hope this works." Ron said, looking over at Kim, her snowsuit had been returned to her, unfortunately, Ron couldn't get out the blood that stained it, so she would have to deal with it, he had also sewn up her pants, the tear in them had happened across one of the seams, so it made it easier to conceal the tear. Tomorrow, they would start the descent down the mountain.

That night, while Kim and Ron slept, the blizzard that had been threatening Middleton, hit with the force of a runaway freight train, thirty mile an hour winds, topped with heavily falling snow, had covered the valley in about two-and-a-half feet of snow in under an hour, all flights in, and around Middleton had been grounded, including, the search and rescue helicopters that the National Park Service used to patrol Mt. Middleton with. At the Possible home, Mrs. Dr. Possible woke with a start,

"What's wrong, honey." Mr. Dr. Possible asked, looking at his whey-faced wife,

"Something terrible's happened to Kimmie." she said,

"Ronald's up there with her, she'll be fine." Mr. Possible said,

"I hope you're right." Mrs. Possible said, laying back down, listening to the wind howling outside their house, but the worry over her daughter didn't die off, instead, it got worse, she quietly got out of bed, and walked into the kitchen, where she poured herself a cup of coffee, and sat down at the table.

'_Please, God, let her be alright, let her come home to us, safe, and sound._' she thought. She went back to her room, and got back into bed, her dreams tormented by the fact that her only daughter was out there, in all that snow, and that terrible storm that was raging outside their home right this moment, and there was nothing she could do to stop it, for the first time in her life, she felt helpless, like there was nothing she could do to bring her daughter back home.

Up on the mountain, Ron remained awake, a protective arm around Kim, he was watching her closely, he knew it was a matter of time, he only had a small window to get Kim off the mountain, and to the hospital, otherwise, she could loose her leg to Gangrene, that was, of course, the worst case scenario, if all went well, she would be fine, the doctors would work their magic, and she would be back to her normal self in no time,

'_But what if she did loose her leg?_' Ron mentally asked himself, '_Would she blame me for it, would she never want to see me again, would I blame myself for it?_'

These thoughts swirled around his head, as he drifted off into a fitful sleep, just as the winds began to pick up, and the snow began to fall.

_A/N: Now, it's getting interesting, I thought I should add the parental instinct in there, it wouldn't be right if the elder Possible's didn't react in some way to Kim's injury, Kim's mother would be the one to worry the most, of course, for some reason, the instinct seems to be stronger between a mother, and her daughter, that a mother, and her son, and the same holds true between father, and son_


	5. Day Four

**Day Four**

Kim was awake the next morning before Ron, the pain in her right causing her to wake with a yelp, she looked over at Ron, who seemed to not have the best nights sleep,

'_I feel for him,_' she thought, her face pouting slightly, '_not only is he not going to make it up the mountain this year, but now, he's got to worry about me, I feel so helpless, there's nothing I can do for him, but be strong._'

Kim tried to get up, but felt a slight pressure on her stomach, she looked down, to find Ron's hand laying protectively across her abdomen, she took Ron's hand into hers, and traced the veins in his prematurely aged, and weatherbeaten hands.

Ron had grown up into quite a man in Kim's mind, he was no longer the skinny boy of years past, he was now a man, standing at more than six foot six, he was among the tallest of all the other boys at school, and he was also the most well built, the muscles that formed from years of climbing Mt. Middleton had given him a rugged kind of look, he seemed to be at home up here, more so than when he was walking the streets of Middleton, she followed the veins in Ron's hand, touching the back of his hand lightly with her fingernail, she could hear him, mumbling something in his sleep, but it made no sense to her, something about, '_No monkey touch_.' As she turned his hand over, and placed her hand to his, she could feel the callouses that had been worked onto them, years of mountain climbing, among other things, had taken a toll on Ron's hands, molding them into the calloused, knotted, and veined claws that she was holding onto,

'_It's not so bad, though,_' she thought to herself, '_I've watched those leathery hands turn to velvet in a touch, if there's one thing about Ron, he knows how to be gentle when it's needed._'

Ron stirred, and awakened with a start,

"Something wrong?" Kim asked, Ron turned to look at her, his eyes wild with some unforseen thing, something they might have overlooked,

"Uh, Kim, does it feel a little . . . cold to you?" Ron asked, looking over at the pretty redhead,

"Yeah, a little, but I'm sure it's nothing." She replied, now looking into Ron's panic-stricken face, and wondering what could cause Ron to wig out so badly,

"What is it?" Kim asked again, but Ron looked at her,

"Did you think about bringing the Kimmunicator?" Ron asked,

"D'oy," Kim said, her expression changing, "it's like an American Express card, I never leave home without it."

"Let me see it." Ron said, extending his hand, as soon as Kim handed it to him, he pushed the call button, the face of a rotund, ten year old African American boy appeared on the screen,

"Hey, Ron, what up?" Wade asked,

"Did we get hit with a snowstorm last night?" Ron asked,

"Understatement of the century, Ron," Wade said, "How about a massive blizzard, dumped about four foot of snow on the tri-city area in about ten hours, everything's been grounded."

"Oh, great, 'cause we got a serious 911 up here, Wade." Ron said,

"What is it?" Wade asked, for an answer, Ron lifted the leg of Kim's snowsuit, followed by the leg of the jeans she was wearing underneath, exposing the stitches that Ron had put in to close the wound,

"And that's not all, Kim's leg is broken, I need to get her off the mountain within the next three days, or Gangrene could set in, then she'll be doing her cheering on a fake leg." Ron said, his voice serious, Kim had obviously not known the danger she was in, her face blanched as Ron mentioned the words 'fake leg,'

"Are you saying, that I could end up losing my leg if I don't get off the mountain in three days?" Kim asked, her face getting whiter and whiter as she spoke, Ron simply nodded, no more words were spoken between the two, but Kim grabbed for the Kimmunicator, and nearly shouted at Wade,

"Get us the hell out of here, Wade!" she screamed,

"Amp down, Kim, the only way down, is via the north face," Wade said, "there's a base camp about five hundred feet down the side of the mountain from your location, they have a medical facility there."

"What about the National Park Service, can't they launch one of their search and rescue choppers here?" Ron asked,

"I told you, Ron," Wade said, "all air traffic is grounded, you're on your own."

"Thanks, Wade," Ron said, now taking the Kimmunicator, "We'll call you when we get to base camp, Ron out."

Ron placed the Kimmunicator into the pocket of his snowsuit that normally housed Rufus, his pet naked mole rat, Rufus had refused to come up the mountain with Ron and Kim, something about being scared of going up the mountain with Ron,

"Well," Ron said, helping Kim to her feet, "let's pack out our trash."

Ron had torn down the campsite in about ten minutes, which was saying something, as they were about ankle deep in snow, being two thousand feet up, they didn't get hit like the valley had, but it was bad enough, everywhere they went, trees had been snapped in two, as if smashed flat by a giant fist, large snow drifts seemed to loom over the horizon, and, as they got closer to them, they realized, they were snow overhangs, one loud noise, and they easily could start an avalanche, that was the last thing they needed.

By mid-afternoon, the pain in Kim's right was almost too much to bear, even for her, so Ron had devised an ingenious way of getting her down the mountain, and to the next base camp, he had made a kind of Native American drag sled, and set Kim in it, when she was comfortable, he tied the sled to his climbing harness, and proceeded to the base camp, which, according to Wade's coordinates, was located about halfway down the mountain on the north face.

At the Possible home, Mrs. Possible was sitting in the kitchen, when the phone rang,

"Hello." She said, the voice on the other end, was Wade,

"Mrs. Possible, I just got word from Kim and Ron," he said, while trying to remain calm himself, "there's been an accident, Kim's got a broken leg, and from the looks of it, Ron tried to patch her up the best he could, but he's still afraid that Gangrene might set in, they're trying for base camp eighteen on the north face of the mountain."

"**_GANGRENE?!_**" Mrs. Possible screamed, causing Wade to drop the phone on the other end, "But that could only mean."

"Yeah," Wade said, "open fracture."

"How bad?" Mrs. Possible asked,

"Well, it looks like she's not going to be walking on it any time soon." Wade said,

"How's Ron holding out?" Mrs. Possible asked,

"He's a little freaked," Wade replied, "but more about the weather than anything else, he's afraid they won't make it down the mountain in time."

"Yeah, and the weather we had last night might slow them down." Mrs. Possible said,

"Not really, as high up as they were, two thousand feet, you need to take off one degree for every foot past five hundred feet, so it's too cold to produce snow up there." Wade said,

"I only hope you're right Wade." Mrs. Possible said,

"I thought I'd let you know, they said they'd contact me when they made it to the base camp, I'll call you when I get more info, 'bye." Wade said, hanging up the phone,

'_Dear God, please give Ron the strength to get them off the mountain, and back home._' Mrs. Possible thought to herself, settling down in a chair at the kitchen table, where she put her face in her hands, and began to cry,

Across town, a young African American boy was praying to himself,

"Please help them, I want to see them again, please guide them off the mountain, Lord, you're their only hope." Wade said, a tear sliding down his face, silently hitting the keyboard on the desk in front of him.

On the mountain, the wind was picking up, it was howling through the trees, and making eerie noises as Ron walked through the wilderness, the sled he had strapped to his back, was making a distinctive footprint in the snow, but neither he, or Kim knew, at this very moment, they were being followed, two men, wearing hunting gear were on the mountain as well, they were looking for Elk, which wouldn't be in season for another couple of weeks, poachers, and if there is one thing that poachers don't like, it's someone in their turf, spying on them.

Kim and Ron made base camp eighteen by early evening, Mike was in the camp, a certified EMT, Mike was indispensable on this side of the mountain,

"Open fracture, huh?" Mike said, looking at the sewn up wound on Kim's right leg,

"Yeah." Ron replied, noting that Mike had a flair for the obvious,

"Well, the only thing I can do for it, is to clean the wound, give her some penicillin, and some pain killers, other than that, there's not much else I can do, except give some advice, get her off this mountain, as fast as you can." Mike said,

"That's my intention." Ron replied,

"Easy, Ron, why don't you pitch a tent, by the time Mike is done, I'm not going to be in much shape to go anywhere, and call Wade like you promised." Kim said, giving Ron a soft look that made him melt,

"You're right, K.P., I'd better call Wade, he's probably waiting for us right now." Ron said, walking out of the cabin, and into the snow, where he pitched the tent, and pulled the Kimmunicator from his pocket,

"We made it to camp eighteen, Wade." Ron said, as soon as Wade's face appeared on the view screen,

"Great, we were getting worried about you two." Wade said, wiping his brow with the back of his hand,

"Yeah, but I have a feeling that we were being followed." Ron said,

"I'll scan the mountainside for any other human life, in the meantime, I think you should get some rest, you look dead on your feet." Wade suggested,

"Thanks, Wade, I'll take it under advisement." Ron said, a bite of sarcasm in his voice.

It took about two hours for Mike to clean the wound, and restitch it with something other than standard thread, when Kim came out of the first aid cabin, she was walking on a pair of crutches, and had her leg tightly bound in a splint,

"How are you feeling, K.P.?" Ron asked,

"Toasted." Kim said, crawling into the tent, and falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Mr. and Mrs. Possible paced the living room of their home, waiting for Wade to call them back, hopefully, with some good news. When the phone rang, Mr. Possible lunged for it, and pushed the button for the speaker phone, Wade's voice filled the room,

"They made it to camp eighteen, but there's a bit of a problem," Wade said, "Poachers, there's a group of six on the mountainside, in the same location that Kim and Ron are in, if they find out that Kim and Ron are anywhere near them–," he didn't finish the sentence, Mr. Possible cut him off,

"They're as good as dead, especially if the poachers are any good with a rifle." he finished,

"Yeah," Wade replied, "I'll keep you posted if anything happens, 'bye." Wade said, leaving the elder Possible's with their very confused thoughts.

_A/N: Day four has come to a close, and, to make matters even worse, Kim and Ron got poachers on their tails. Ooh, this is shaping up to be quite interesting. Stick around, and read on, you might learn something before it's all said and done._


	6. Day Five

**Day Five**

Kim was awake early, the pain in her leg was getting worse, but she wasn't the only one that was awake, apparently, Ron had got up before she had, because he was nowhere to be found, when she had gotten out of the tent, she looked around, and saw Ron's telltale footprints, leading into the first aid cabin, but there were more prints in camp than just the three that had been there last night, there were two extra pair of prints, coming from what appeared to be the west, they had also gone into the first aid cabin, then left, dragging something heavy out with them.

Kim was relieved to see Ron walk out of the cabin a few seconds after she had gotten up, but unsettled when she saw the look on his face,

"That's strange." he said, looking down at the footprints,

"What?" Kim asked,

"Well, there's three extra pair of footprints in camp, but no extra tents, not even steak marks in the ground." Ron said, pointing to the suspect footprints, and frowning, as Kim looked around, she noticed that Ron was right, there were no other tents in camp, and no visual markings on the ground that any other hikers had camped here during the night,

"Okay, this is getting too freaky." Kim said,

"And freaky is something we **_don't _**need at the moment." Ron finished, Kim nodded in agreement, just as Ron reached into the pocket of his snowsuit, and pulled out the Kimmunicator,

"Wade, talk to me, are there any other people in this area, **_besides_** me and Kim." Ron said, his face contorted into a huge frown,

"Yeah, but you're not gonna like it." Wade said,

"Let me guess, hunters, but Elk Season isn't for another couple of weeks." Ron replied,

"You got it." Wade said,

"Poachers! I should've known," Ron said, the palm of his hand coming into hard contact with his forehead, "with the blizzard shutting everything down, it's the perfect opportunity to bag a few Elk, without the National Park Service breathing down your neck."

"And that's not the half of it, Ron," Wade said, making Ron turn to look at the small screen of the Kimmunicator a little harder, "I have reason to believe that they're aware that you and Kim are on that side of the mountain, if they find you, you're gonna end up on their bag list."

"**_SOOO NOT WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR, WADE!!_**" Ron shouted back at the African-American boy,

"Chill, Ron,"Wade said, causing Ron to frown at him, "I've mapped a quick way down the mountain, you should make it to Ranger Station Seven within the next forty-eight hours."

"Station Seven, coolio, Paulie's down there, we'll turn the poachers over to him, and let the park service deal with them." Ron said,

"Well, that's looking on the plus side." Kim responded, she had decided to remain quiet during the exchange between Ron, and Wade, knowing Ron's temper, she had let him rant himself out, before interjecting into the conversation,

"Yeah, but there's a down side," Wade said, "the new course will pull you away from your food stores, Ron."

"That, I can live with," Ron said, "what about water?" he added quickly,

"There's a couple of springs that run through the new course, you should be golden until you reach the station." Wade replied,

"And if we don't find these streams, we'll just have to make due with what we got." Ron said,

"Yeah, you should be okay, there's enough water to last for a while." Wade said,

"Thanks, Wade, I'll contact you when we make camp for the night, Ron out." Ron said, turning the device off, and stuffing it back into his pocket,

"You ready to hit it, Kim?" Ron asked, looking over at his girlfriend, whose color was draining from her face,

"Let's move, Ron." she said, taking two steps, then falling into Ron's outstretched arms,

"You're not **_walking_** anywhere." Ron said, picking Kim off the ground, and placing her into the sled he had made the day before,

"Ron, I'm fine." Kim protested, but Ron wouldn't hear of it,

"No, you're not, Kim, perhaps you didn't look into a mirror, but you look like you've seen a ghost, I'm not taking any chances." Ron said, his face was set, his voice was stern, but not inflexible,

"Look, me, standing, I'm fine, no big." Kim said, still attempting to let Ron see her side of it, but Ron wasn't budging,

"Look, Kim," he said, his voice was reassuring, but still somewhat stern, "I've leaned on you more than my fair share, now, it's your turn to lean on me, can you trust me, just this once, I know what I'm doing."

Kim couldn't argue that point, no matter how she looked at it, she would need Ron's help to get off the mountain, she couldn't do it on one leg, not with rabid poachers dogging their every step, poachers, that are, no doubt, armed to the teeth,

"Okay, Ron, you got me, what's your next move?" Kim asked, looking at Ron with complete trust,

"Well, for starters, I'm not gonna let those guys just waltz up here, and find us, if they want us, I'm gonna make them work for it." Ron said, an evil grin cracking his face,

"And how are you gonna do that?" Kim asked,

"Get them, before they get us." Ron said, his voice was scary, Kim had never seen him this angry before, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up,

"Amp down, Ron, you're scaring me." Kim said,

"I'm not trying to scare you, K.P., I'm trying to scare them." Ron replied,

"How do you know they're listening?" Kim asked,

"I feel it more than I know it," Ron explained, "for example, there's always the sounds of birds on Mt. Middleton, no matter what season it is, do you hear any birds singing in the trees?"

"No." Kim replied, shaking her head,

"Exactly, there's something other than us on this ledge." Ron said, looking at Kim,

By Mid-afternoon, Kim was aware that someone, or something, was following them down the mountainside, but who, or what it was, she didn't know, the creepy feeling of being watched followed her until they reached the halfway point, when a new feeling took over, biting cold, as though she had been dunked into a tub full of freezing water,

"Ron, I'm cold." Kim said, causing Ron to stop, and unhook the sled, he was by her side quickly, he laid a calloused hand to her forehead, and his face began to lose its color,

"**_OH, GREAT!!_**" Ron shouted, throwing his hands into the air, and positively screaming with despair,

"Wh-what i-i-i-s i-it." Kim stuttered, her teeth chattering loudly,

"Hypothermia, your body's starting to go into shock." Ron said, gathering up as much wood as he could, he needed to get Kim warmed up as quickly as possible, otherwise she could die of exposure to the brutal elements of Mt. Middleton's changing weather.

Evening had rolled around quickly, and Ron had figured, that with the stop to warm up Kim, they had lost about an hour of their precious window, if Ron didn't Kim off the mountain by this time in a day and a half, Gangrene would start to set in, and Kim could very easily lose her leg to the rotting disease. As he relaxed against a tree, something caught his eye. Movement, about a couple hundred yards in the distance, from the looks of it, whatever it was, they were getting closer, then, it happened,

_BANG!_

The rifle shot rang out loudly, waking Kim up from a sound sleep, and splintering the branch next to Ron's head,

"**_HOLY SHIT!!_**" Ron shouted, grabbing Kim into his arms, and running from the hastily made camp, picking up only the supplies they needed,

"What, what is it?" Kim asked,

"The poachers, they caught up with us!" Ron exclaimed, running at full speed to a nearby stand of trees, hopefully, they could lose the poachers in the thick brush.

With the adrenaline pumping fast, Ron ran through the brambles, and the briar patches, not looking to see how badly cut up he was getting, and not really caring, his only thought at this moment, was Kim, getting her off the mountain had become all consuming, he had asked Kim to get the Kimmunicator from his pants pocket as he ran, which she had done without a problem, even as fast as his legs were pumping,

"Wade, we got a major 911." Kim said, as Ron ran through another briar patch, his already badly cut up legs, getting even more cut up,

"What up, Kim?" Wade asked,

"The poachers found us, and right now, they've got to be tracking us." Kim said,

"I got you on G.P.S.," Wade said, speaking slow, so that Ron could hear as well,

"You're still about a day from the station, if you continue on the same path you're on now, you're gonna reach Devil's Fork in about eight hours, either turn left, or turn back."

Ron broke left from his current path, opting not to turn back, and risk falling into the hands of the poachers,

"Good, this should take you to Geyser Springs, there, you should be able to warm up a little, and from there, you're only a day away from the station, you should be able to get off the mountain from there." Wade said,

"And if the poachers find us beforehand?" Ron asked,

"Chill, Ron," Wade said, "I'm tracking them too, they didn't follow you through the briars, noone's dumb enough to follow someone with an adrenaline rush through there."

Ron looked down at his now throbbing legs, and saw several thorns sticking out of them,

"**_AW, MAN!!_** Now I'm gonna be up half the night, trying to fix those." Ron said, a dejected tone in his voice,

"Well, gotta go, I told Kim's parents I'd keep them informed as to how you're doing, Wade out." Wade said, as the screen went blank.

Wade called the Possible home about a minute after he had gotten off with Kim and Ron,

"It seems the poachers tried to take a potshot at Ron," Wade explained, "he got 'em out of there okay, but he tore his legs up pretty bad, he ran through the briars between camp eighteen, and Devil's Fork, he took the left, to Geyser Springs, he should make it to Ranger Station Seven sometime tomorrow, at the earliest."

"You are just a world of good news today, Wade, have you seen the news, they're declaring Kim and Ron as missing." Mr. Possible said,

"Yeah, I know, how're you holding out?" Wade asked,

"As good as can be expected." Mrs. Possible said, a sigh escaping her lips,

"I'll keep you in the loop if anything happens, talk to you later." Wade said, hanging up, and breaking the telephone connection between him, and the elder Possible's.

Mr. Possible had sat down at the sofa, awaiting the news of Kim and Ron's appearance, when the phone rang again,

"Hello, who is this?" he asked,

"This is Steve Barkin, I'm just calling to say, my prayers are with you." the voice on the other end said, it was Mr. Barkin, the principal of Middleton High School, where Kim, and Ron were in their last year of school.

"Thanks, Mr. Barkin, I appreciate it." Mr. Possible said,

"Not a problem, Dr. Possible." Mr. Barkin said, hanging up the phone, and leaving Mr. Possible with his confused thoughts.

On the other side of town, at Middleton High School, a well built man with dark hair, cut into a flattop, sat at his desk in his office, Steve Barkin was not prone to working this late at night, but there were things on his mind that even he couldn't shake, he looked out the window of his office, there was a perfect view of Mt. Middleton, he bent his head in silent prayer, asking for the safe return of two of his pupils, Kim Possible, and Ron Stoppable,

'_Bring them home safe, Lord,_' he thought, '_I may have been a little hard on the both of them, but even they don't deserve to have their lives end like this, just, bring them home to their families, that's where they belong._' He turned out, to look at the mountain one last time, before shutting off the lights of his office, and leaving for the night.

_A/N: Thought I'd leave it there, another cliffhanger, I'm getting **GOOD **at these_, _well, until the next chapter, keep those reviews coming, folks, I save all reviews I get, so keep 'em coming, no flames, please, I don't think I could take the rejection, laughs evilly, keep the reviews coming, and btw, sorry if the last two chapters were short, but I tend to do most of my writing at night, as in after 2:00 a.m. (Central time)_


	7. Day Six

**Day Six**

Ron had made it to Geyser Springs during the early morning hours, and only fallen asleep about two hours before Kim had awakened. She looked over at Ron, and sighed,

'_If only there were more I could do for him at this point, he looks as though he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders._' she thought. She watched him sleeping for a few more hours. Even though she hated doing it, she reached over at about eight o'clock, and shook him awake,

"Time to get going, Ron." Kim said, a smile fixed to her face, even though she was in massive pain, her right leg felt as though it were about to fall off,

"How bad does it hurt?" Ron asked, seeing right through Kim's brave face,

"Oh, God, Ron, it hurts like hell." Kim said, not hiding it any longer, she knew that Ron saw through the face, but how, then she realized, as long as they've been friends, Ron could read Kim's facial features like a book, and she, his, and right now, she could see fatigue, and fear mingled together in his eyes,

"Ron, you're tired, maybe we should just hold off for a while, I'm sure the poachers won't find us in here." Kim said, earning a quick look from Ron,

"That's not what concerns me, K.P., right now, I could care less about myself, my concern, is getting you off this mountain, I'll sleep more soundly, once you're taken care of, and safe, until then, I'll gladly sacrifice my sleep, and be a little uncomfortable." Ron said, making Kim look at him strangely, she now knew, Ron would stop at nothing to get her off the mountain, and to the hospital.

Meanwhile, what the two teenagers didn't know, was that the poachers had moved to the left of their current position, and were waiting for them to appear out of the underbrush.

By Mid-morning, Ron had started the hike down the mountain, he had made a new sled for Kim, having left the old one behind at the last camp, he had also surprised Kim when he had reached into his backpack, and pulled out some pain killers, and a couple of penicillin tablets for her,

"Be careful with those, K.P.," Ron said, handing her the pain killers, "that's ten milligrams of Morphine, it's going to knock you out for about an hour."

"I know, Ron," Kim said, then a question came into her mind, "how did you get these?"

"Mike gave them to me last night, after you went to sleep, he said to give them to you, only when the pain is at its worst, and as for the penicillin, he gave me a whole bottle of it, said it should help fight off infection, and that's how Gangrene starts." Ron replied,

" I'm impressed, Ron." Kim said, downing the pain killers, followed by the penicillin, as soon as the Morphine entered her blood stream, she began to feel tired, she lay back in the sled, and fell asleep, just as Ron had predicted.

Kim awakened about two hours later, according to Ron, they were about halfway to the Ranger Station, and that Paulie should be there today,

"He's got the watch at this station tonight, and he never misses." Ron said, turning back to look at Kim, from what little she could see of his face, he needed to stop, and rest, but that was out of the question of even suggesting, let alone, doing it. Ron was obsessed, nothing was going to stop him from getting Kim down the mountain, not even the threat of death, which, at this point, was looming large over their heads.

Early afternoon found the two teenagers about a hundred yards from a rustic looking old cabin, over the door, Kim could barely make out a plaque, bearing the seal of the National Park Service,

"That it, Ron?" she asked,

"Yep, that's the place," Ron said, looking at the cabin, a distant look on his face, "I come here all the time during the winter, I stop, and talk to Paulie, and we talk about the mountain, and when I'm finally going to conquer the summit, we laugh about it, and crack a lot of jokes on each other, but it's all in fun, and noone gets hurt." Kim could tell, that Ron and Paulie had formed a kind of bond, the kind of bond that forms between friends, just as it had done between her, and Ron, all those years ago, out on the playground at the preschool they had attended,

'_Has it been fourteen years,_' Kim thought to herself, '_where does the time go?_'

They reached the cabin within a few minutes after having spotted it, and opened the front door, as soon as they entered, Ron felt uneasy,

"Something's not right here," Ron said, looking around the rather large cabin, the bed in the next room looked as though it hadn't been slept in, and the lights were still on, not to mention, the door was unlocked, "where's Paulie, he should've been here four hours ago."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked,

"Well, shift change up here is at 8:00 in the morning, without fail, Paulie never fails to be ready for his changeover." Ron elaborated, his face becoming more, and more scared,

"You don't think he made it up here?" Kim asked,

"Oh, he made it up here," Ron said, pointing to a large cooler, marked '_P.J. Blazedale,_'

"What's P.J. stand for?" Kim asked,

"Paul James," Ron said, looking at the untouched cooler, "and it's still full, Paulie never leaves his lunch for later, he has a set routine he works by."

"And I take it. He didn't follow that routine." Kim said,

"You got that right, lunch for Paulie is at 2:00 in the morning, without fail, every time." Ron said, now looking around the room, next to the large base C.B. radio, was a folded slip of paper, with Ron's name on it,

"Hey, look at this." Ron said, grabbing the paper, and opening it, he read the note, it was in Paulie's untidy handwriting:

'_Check the stash._'

"'Check the stash,' what's he talking about, Ron?" Kim asked, the look on Ron's face making her uneasy

"The arms stash," Ron explained, "he keeps a 30-06 rifle, a .45 pistol, and massive amounts of ammo stored in a huge wall safe in the bedroom."

"You've got to be kidding," Kim said, looking over at Ron, "he wants us to arm up, and go after these poachers on our own, and with one person who can't walk, is he nuts?!"

"You would think so, wouldn't you," Ron said, looking at Kim, "but that's not the case, I'd say the poachers got to Paulie before we could, he left the note to warn us."

"So now what?" Kim asked, for an answer, Ron pointed to the base radio, sitting on a desk, and walked over to it, while Kim sat down in a chair hear the door,

"Ranger Station Seven, to any available base camp, do you copy?" Ron said, the next voice heard, was Sven's,

"Base Camp Two here, ja, Ron, I copy you." he said,

"Hey, Sven, do you know if Paulie made it to this station last night?" Ron asked,

"No, I do not, but you might want to try Station One, Karen, and Steve are there, they might be able to help, ja." Sven replied,

"Thanks, Sven, Station Seven out." Ron said, then, changing the channel on the radio, he tried again,

"Station One, this is Station Seven, do you copy, over." Ron said, at once, a female voice came back over the speaker,

"Copy Station Seven, this is Station One, where's Paulie?" she asked,

"I don't know, Karen, I just got here, this is Ron Stoppable." Ron said, the immediate response from Karen made Ron feel as though the local news had made it sound as if Kim and Ron had died on the mountain,

"We . . . were . . . so worried about you two, are you alright?" she asked,

"We're fine, Karen," Ron said, then hesitated, before adding, "for the most part."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Karen asked,

"Well, it's just that Kim's got a broken leg, my legs were torn up in the briar patches on this side of the mountain, and we got a group of wacked out poachers tracking us, looking to add our heads to their trophy rooms." Ron said, all in one breath,

"I'm guessing that Kim's broken leg isn't your average, run of the mill simple fracture, is it?" Karen asked,

"No, open fracture, I set the bone, and sewed up the wound, but I'm not sure if the penicillin is going to do the trick, I almost lost her yesterday afternoon to exposure, and my legs are cut up real bad from the brambles between Geyser Springs, and Camp Eighteen." Ron said,

"Okay, now, about the poachers, where are they at now?" Karen asked, by this time, Kim was tugging at Ron's arm, hard,

"Hang on a second, Karen, what is it, K.P.?" Ron said, Kim pointed out the window, and Ron saw, with a thrill of dread, two human figures, walking up to the cabin,

"I got two of them, right outside." Ron said, now letting go of the mic., and sprinting for the bedroom, where he wrenched back a loose panel on the wall, to expose a large wall safe, he quickly fiddled with the combination lock, and pulled the door open, to reveal a Winchester 30-06 rifle, with a telescopic sight, and a.45 caliber handgun, from the look of it, it was a military issue gun, and in perfect working order, Ron loaded the pistol with one of several magazines that were strewn about the shelf at the top of the safe, and grabbed a box of ammunition for the rifle, he then threw Kim the handgun,

"I know you know how to use one of these, Kim, use it only if you have to, and please, be sure of your target, don't hit me, even by accident." Ron said,

"So not the drama, Ron." Kim said, pulling back the slide, chambering a round, as Ron sat on the bed, and, pulling the lever on the rifle, he began to load the gun, once that was done, he pushed the lever into the ready position, chambering a round, and readying himself for a firefight,

"Those two are gonna come through that door any minute," Ron said, looking over at Kim, "as soon as they do, I'm gonna open fire, that'll give us a little time to get out of here, and head for cover, preferably, closer to Station One, and help." Ron gestured to the back door, which was bolted. He went to it, and slid back the bolt, making it easier for them to get out through that door, and just in time, the front door came open with a loud crash, Ron whipped around, and began firing from the hip, Kim watched, stunned, as Ron dropped, first one, then the other,

"Let's not sit there with our tongues hanging out, let's get out of here!" Ron said, picking Kim up, and cradling her into his arms. He ran for what seemed like forever, until they came upon a small stream, Ron seemed to recognize this place,

"Ah, the underground lake, we're halfway home, K.P." Ron said, his voice sounding tired, for the first time all day,

"Thank God for that." Kim said, pulling back the trigger on the handgun she was carrying, and easing the hammer into the uncocked position,

"Tell me about it." Ron said, following suit.

It was Mid Afternoon when Kim called Wade, Ron was keeping watch on the camp from a ledge about a hundred yards out,

"What up, Kim?" Wade asked as soon as he saw her face,

"Not too much, we made it to Station Seven, the lights were on, but noone was home, literally." Kim said, Wade's face went into a frown,

"Impossible, Paulie's always there." Wade said,

"No, he was gone, but he left Ron a note, 'check the stash.'" Kim said,

"Uh-oh, this is not good." Wade said,

"Tell me about it, Ron figured it out, and grabbed all of the guns, and ammunition he could carry from an old gun safe in the station, and shot two men." Kim said,

"I kind of figured that, they're not dead, but the Park Rangers are gonna have fun with them." Wade said,

"What do you mean?" Kim asked,

"Paulie is dead, that's the only reason he left Ron that note, it was a code to Ron, get the guns, and get the hell off the mountain, any way you can." Wade said,

"Do you think we're gonna stay up here another day?" Kim asked, looking at the spot where she knew Ron to be hiding,

"If all goes well, you should be at Middleton Memorial Hospital by this time tomorrow." Wade said,

"And if it doesn't, like everything else that's happened on this trip?" Kim asked,

"Then, we're in trouble, unless Ron has found some antibiotics, your window will be closed." Wade said,

"We did, Ron found some penicillin, so we're golden." Kim said,

"Smart one, I think Ron's starting to grow a brain." Wade said,

"I heard that, Wade." Ron said, making Kim jump into the air, and draw out the gun she had hidden in her pants pocket,

"Easy, Kim, easy, you don't want to lose me this early in the game, do you?" Ron said playfully,

"Damn you, Ron, you almost bought a bullet, you know that, don't you?" Kim said,

"Yeah, I know," Ron said, now looking at Wade, as though saying, '_it was all your fault,_' "I just finished my check, nothing moving for about five hundred yards, we're golden."

"That's good news." Kim said, now settling back down, and allowing her heart to stop racing,

"We should be able to get at least a couple of hours sleep tonight, and then be on our way, I want to get you to the hospital as fast as I can." Ron said setting down next to Kim with a groan of pain, rubbing his back,

"Are you hurt, Ron?" Kim asked,

"Well, you're a lot heavier than you look." Ron said, giving Kim a playful elbow to the ribs,

"Ooh, you're gonna pay for that one, Stoppable." Kim said, turning over, and play fighting with Ron, this went on for another couple of hours, until the two of them were worn out, and decided to go to sleep, just as the sun was setting.

_A/N: And that's day six, I needed something to lighten the mood a little bit, and I needed a little action with the poachers, so I thought I would have them bust into the station, and cause Kim and Ron to run for it, but the idea of having Ron shoot them came from my oldest nephew, so props to him for that one._


	8. Day Seven

**Day Seven**

Kim had awakened early, hoping that Ron was still asleep, the pain in her right leg had intensified during the night, and had awakened her rather abruptly this morning, she was hoping she could sneak some more of the pain killers that Ron had took from the first aid station, but Ron was already awake, and gone. From the looks of it, he had left camp only a few minutes ago, the tracks in the snow were still fresh, so Kim thought of the only thing to do, she called for him,

"Ron. Ron. **_RON! WHERE ARE YOU!?_**" she called out, she then noticed something on the ledge where Ron had set up a lookout the night before, it seemed to be a mirror, directed at the sun, it was being reflected back at her, shesaw it once, then a second time,

'_A signal of some kind._' Kim thought, but she had opened her mouth too late, as she turned around, she saw four men come into the clearing, all carrying rifles, just like the one Ron had, she knew she was no match for all of them, even if she could get off a shot, they would kill her before she could get up, and get out of camp,

"Lookie what we have here, boys." one of the poachers said to his friends,

"We come looking for Elk, and we find beaver instead." another said, Kim knew where this conversation was headed, and she was going to make sure that they didn't even get the chance to try what was on their mind, she still had the .45 in her pocket, she would attempt to go down with her dignity in tact, and not end up a rape victim,

'_Where the hell is Ron when you need him?_' Kim asked herself, then she thought further, '_He's got to be up on that ledge, and from the looks of it, he took the rifle, he's probably setting a trap right now._' she couldn't be further from the truth.

At that moment, on the ledge overlooking the camp, Ron was drawing a bead on the poacher closest to Kim, and was preparing to take the shot, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out the mirror again, in hopes that Kim would be able to decipher morse code,

'_I got to tell her to get out of the way, it's gonna be chaos in that camp the minute I start opening up on these hicks._' he thought, and he began to tell her, in his own way, to get down, and lay low.

Kim was looking up at the ledge where Ron was hidden, when she saw the mirror flash again, only this time, Ron was trying to tell her something, it was in morse code, she quickly, and to herself, began to decipher it,

'_K-I-M, end word, new word, D-U-C-K, end word, end communication, oh shit!_' she thought, she knew what Ron was planning, he was going to open fire on the camp, and he wanted Kim out of the way, with the speed, and agility of a cat, she quickly ducked, and rolled out of the way, allowing Ron a clear field of fire.

_CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!_

Four times, the loud report of a rifle shot echoed throughout the clearing, and the four poachers fell, only one of them had been struck a fatal blow, the one that had been closest to Kim had been hit in the back of the head, killing him instantly, the other three had taken shots to the knees, thereby ending any plans they might have had of harming Kim. Before the three remaining poachers could even reach their guns, Ron was back in camp, his rifle trained on the one closest to him,

"First one that moves, buys himself a one way ticket straight to hell." he said, cocking the rifle, and taking a bead on the poacher at his feet,

"We meant no harm." one of the poachers said to Ron, who clearly had the upper hand, he grabbed the four rifles on the ground, and swung them hard at the nearest tree, breaking the stocks, and rendering them useless,

"Not anymore, you don't. Now, **_get up, and start walking!_**" Ron said savagely, he was aware that they were not going to be able to walk very far, but he wasn't about to show them the same kind of treatment he was giving Kim, as far as Ron was concerned, they weren't worth his time to even bring down the mountain. Oh, how he longed for one of them to make a move for him, just so it would mean one less poacher to turn over to the park rangers when he arrived at station one. When one of the poachers twitched, and made a mad lunge for Ron, he sidestepped him, and brought the rifle butt to the man's jaw,

"Do you think I'mmucking around?" he said through clenched teeth, "Get your ass up, and if you try to pull another suckhead play like that again, the only thing that'll beat you to the morgue are the headlights of the coroner's wagon."

Kim was still in shock when Ron tied the three men together to the back of the drag sled, the men were in worse shape that she was, they still had bullets in their knees, and Ron was forcing them to walk,

'_Well, it does serve them right, though, they tried to kill us, and rape me, they deserve it._' a part of her thought, but another part of her thought just the opposite, '_Why should they be treated any differently, they're injured as well, maybe I should try to talk some sense into him, maybe take the slugs out of their legs, so they can at least walk._'

When Ron made camp for the afternoon, Kim made her move, and attempted to talk a little sense into Ron,

"They're not cattle, Ron, they're humans, no matter how low they are, we at least have to do something for them." she pleaded,

"Alright, I'll remove the slugs, but no more than that, if they try to run, I'm gonna put a bullet in their skulls." Ron said, Kim agreed to this, and watched, as Ron grabbed a large hunting knife from his backpack, and walked over to the three men, who began shaking, they must've thought that Ron was there to kill them,

"I'm going to take the slugs out of your legs, and sew you up, so stop your sniveling." Ron said, placing the knife into the fire, and grabbing a pair of tweezers from the first aid kit, along with a needle, and thread, she watched, almost in shock, as Ron began to patch them up, it looked worse that if he had left them alone. First, he had pulled the knife from the fire, (the blade was glowing red hot) and cut into the backs of their legs, he then inserted the tweezers into the freshly cut wounds, and pulled out the mangled slugs, he then sewed up the wounds, and bandaged them up, the entire time, they stood still,shouting, and yelling out in painonly when the knife had entered the skin,

"That wasn't so bad, now, was it?" Ron said, looking at the three men, who were on the verge of passing out from pain,

"A little mideval, Ron, but, I guess it did the trick." Kim said, when Ron had sat down beside her,

"Well, we don't have the right tools for bullet extraction, so I had to make due." Ron said,

"By the way, Ron, where did you learn to shoot a gun like that?" Kim asked,

"You're forgetting, K.P., I come from a long line of policemen, my grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great grandfather, and three of my uncles were all cops." Ron said,

"I forgot about that, who taught you?" Kim asked,

"My Grandfather. Pappy was the best shot out of them all." Ron said, smiling widely,

"Yeah, but it was your great-great grandfather that made it the highest in the police department." Kim said,

"Yeah, Jonathon Stoppable, he was chief of police after Barkin's ancestor died of a massive stroke." Ron said,

"When did he hold that title?" Kim asked, she had forgotten about the dates, only knowing that Jonathon Stoppable, and her great-aunt, Mim Possible were best friends, and it was Jon, that had cleared Mim's name,

"1907 to 1918." Ron replied,

"Okay." Kim said, the memory coming back to her, it was thanks to Wade, they had gone back in time, and solved the case of Mim Possible, it was Ron, not Jonathon, who had cleared Mim's name,

"I forgot about that. It was us, actually." Kim clarified,

"Yeah, I forgot about that, too." Ron said, making Kim not feel alone, apparently, the machine that Wade had used, had wiped the memories from them, or had locked them away somehow, and it took what they were experiencing to bring those memories to the surface,

"Uh, excuse me," one of the poachers asked, "who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Ron Stoppable, and this, is Kim Possible." Ron said, pointing first, to himself, then to Kim,

"I knew it, I knew it, I tried to tell Jim Bob, but would he listen, hell no." the man said,

"And just who the hell is Jim Bob?" Kim asked,

"My cousin, the one you killed." the man said,

"Oh, sorry about that." Kim said, her face growing rather pink,

"I told him that before we went into your camp, I told him, I says, 'Jim Bob, don't you go a-messin' with those two, they're Kim Possible, and her friend, they'se a-gonna kill us,' didn't I say that, boys?" the man said, the other two nodded quickly,

"Will you shut up, you country hick!" Ron said, staring at the man, who fell silent immediately,

"Ron, aren't you being a little harsh." Kim said,

"Maybe, but you gotta remember what they almost did, K.P." Ron said, trying to talk sense into Kim,

"How can I forget, I almost forcibly lost my virginity to three backwoods country stumblebums." Kim said, her face looking away from Ron,

"Hey, what is it, K.P., what's wrong?" Ron asked,

"I didn't think you were serious, Ron, you know, about getting us off the mountain, no matter what." Kim said,

"I was very serious, Kim, so much so, that I was forced to take a life, rather than see my friend get hurt any further." Ron said, his face was set into a serious expression, which, for Ron, was rare, but had come in large supply over the last four days,

"Well, do you think we've rested enough for today?" Kim asked, now looking up at Ron,

"Yeah, Station One is just down the road over there, and at the foot of the mountain." Ron said, pointing to an old gravel road, that looked as though it hasn't been used in years,

"What kind of road is that?" Kim asked,

"It's a fire road," Ron said, then noticing that Kim didn't fully understand, he elaborated, "the Fire Department, and emergency services use it for fighting fires, and getting injured campers, and hikers off the mountain, the Station is about eight hundred yards at the beginning of the road, they keep it blocked off, that's why two rangers work the station."

"Okay, what are we waiting for, let's get down there." Kim said, knowing that civilization was only eight hundred yards away, but from the look of it, the road down wasn't going to be easy.

On this leg of the journey, Ron had the three prisoners walking in front of him, his rifle trained on them, as they reached the bottom of the hill, they saw a minivan, it looked familiar,

"Is that . . . no, it can't be!" Kim said, peering around at the minivan, as they got closer, they noticed, with a thrill of longing, it belonged to Kim's parents.

Mr. Possible was inside of the Ranger Station, when he heard his wife's voice coming from outside,

"Honey. I can see them." Mrs. Possible said, Mr. Possible went tearing out of the cabin, and to where his wife was standing, he saw Ron, holding a rifle, and leading three tied men into the station, behind him, laying on a drag sled, was Kim,

"We were so worried about you, Kimmie, when Wade told us, we feared the worst." Mrs. Possible said,

"I'm sorry I caused you so much grief, mom." Kim said, the tears she had held during the entire trip down the mountain began to fall, as she reached out to her mother,the two women hugged, before being separated by paramedics.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been only three hours since they had come off the mountain, but their return was headline news, Ron had brought Kim off the mountain, and now, the assement of the damage to Kim's leg was being done at this moment,

"Well, it was touch-and-go for a little while, but we were able to save the leg." the doctor said, coming out of the surgery room where they had taken Kim the minute they had arrived,

"And the scar on her leg, were you able to do something about that?" Mrs. Possible asked,

"Oh, yeah, we pulled a small skin graft from her hip, the graft spot will never be seen by anyone, and the scarring will be covered up, her leg will look as it did before the accident." the doctor said, smiling,

"What about Ronald?" Mr. Possible asked,

"Exhaustion, he'll need to stay for a couple of days, at least until he get's back his strength, the condition he was in when he arrived, he needed about 95 stitches to close up his legs, and we had to pump him full of antibiotics, but he'll be fine." the doctor said,

"Can we go in, and see them?" Jim asked, he, and his twin brother, Tim, had been just as worried about Kim, and Ron, as their parents were,

"Of course, you can. They're in room four, down the hall, and to your left." the doctor said,

"Any long term effects?" Mrs. Possible asked, being a medical doctor herself, she knew what the phrase, 'touch-and-go,' meant,

"No, she'll have full use of her right leg in about a couple of months, until that time, she'll need to get around on crutches, or a wheelchair, the latter of which, I would recommend, we had to put rods down the side of her cast, her leg had been broken so severely, we didn't want to take any chances of the setting coming out." the doctor said, Mrs. Possible nodded, and followed her family into the room shared by Kim and Ron,

"Kimmie-cub, how are you feeling?" Mr. Possible asked her daughter,

"Fine, my leg hurts a little, but I'll live." Kim said, hugging her dad,

"And Ronald?" Mr. Possible asked, looking over at Ron, and lowering his voice,

"He'll be fine, he wore himself out getting us off the mountain." Kim replied,

"I'm glad Ron was up there with you," Mrs. Possible said, "if you had been alone."

"I know," Kim said, practically reading her mother's mind, "I never would've made it."

"We owe that young man a lot," Mr. Possible said, looking over at the sleeping Ron, "he brought our Kimmie-cub back to us, thanks Ron."

"He can't hear you, dad." Kim said,

"Why not?" Mr. Possible asked,

"The doctors had to sedate him, he refused to be worked on until I was treated, that was the only way the doctors could work on him." Kim replied, looking over at Ron, and smiling, she thought to herself,

'_Thanks, Ron, I owe you big for this._' before she turned to look at her family,

"I'm tired, it's been nice to see you, but I need to get some sleep." she said, looking at her parents,

"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow, Kimmie." Mrs. Possible said, walking out of the room, just as Kim faded into sleep.

_A/N: Well, they made it off the mountain, sorry this story is short, but I needed to make it somewhat realistic, if I had let it drag on any longer, even with penicillin, there wouldn't have been a chance that the doctors could've saved Kim's leg, Gangrene would've set in, and from there, it would've only been a matter of hours before Kim's leg would've fallen off by itself, stay tuned for the Epilogue, that's coming up next, and it won't be that long, hope you've enjoyed this story, and watch for more, thanks to all of those who reviewed, and thanks to my number 1 fan, captainkodak 1, talk you y'all later,_

_Doug._


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Kim was at the top of Mt. Middleton, it had been a year since that day when Kim had nearly lost her leg, and she, like Ron, had decided to tackle the mountain again, she was leaning down, to grab hold of Ron's hand, and help him to the top of the mountain, when the glint of gold on her finger caught her eye.

It had only been a few months ago, when Kim and Ron had shown their undying love for each other, by proclaiming it with the exchanging of rings, and wedding vows, Kim Possible, was now Kim Stoppable, and she felt as though they were still on their honeymoon, which had been provided by Mr. Paisley, the multi billionaire that she had helped on her first mission, he had paid for everything, including the wedding itself, which was anything but small, everyone, even Kim's enemies had shown up for it, it was **_the_** big event of the year, she also remembered the inscription that Ron had put on the inside of her wedding band, it was in Hebrew, so Ron had to translate for her that first time:

_Kim, and Ron, together, always, and forever._

That was the one thing, Ron had told her, that had sealed their love for each other, and the other, would be this, Kim had planned it this time, she wanted to go up the mountain that had beat her so badly a year ago, and then, only then, could she say that she could do anything.

She got hold of Ron's hand, and pulled him to the top of the mountain, as soon as his feet touched the summit, he let out a big whoop, and broke into a victory dance,

"How do you like me now, I beat the big, bad mountain." he said, Kim had smiled, it had been eight years in the making, but Ron had finally done it, he had beaten Mt. Middleton.

**END**

_A/N: I thought I would allow Ron to beat the mountain, but I wanted it to take place after something big, so I decided that it would be their marriage, I thought, with married couples getting younger every year, why not have Kim, and Ron marry at nineteen, it would only be natural, as they would be considered consenting adults, old enough to make up their own minds, I decided to let the parents have them make the decision, rather then the parents, it would be only natural for the parents to want to get in their two cents, as it were, but I thought, the Possible's, and the Stoppable's were contemporary enough, they would be happy with any decision their children would make._


End file.
